Enhancing understanding and engagement with the Chinese writing system in second language classrooms
Date
2024
Authors
Scrimgeour, A.
Editors
Osborne, C.
Wang, D.
Zhang, Q.
Wang, D.
Zhang, Q.
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Book chapter
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Source details - Title: Teaching Chinese Characters in the Digital Age, 2024 / Osborne, C., Wang, D., Zhang, Q. (ed./s), Ch.6, pp.135-162
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Abstract
The Chinese writing system is both a source of wonder and great frustration to second language learners of Chinese in primary and secondary school classrooms. Initial interest in learning to read and write Chinese characters is often tempered by the demands of recognising and remembering the myriad of forms, the ‘hidden’ sounds and meanings of characters that learners encounter and by the ongoing demands of routine writing practice that offers learners little insight into how the system works and how best to learn it. Chinese language teachers in school-based second language contexts face a number of key challenges in building young, novice second language learners’ skills in reading and writing meaningfully in Chinese. Despite the significant growth in the uptake of Chinese language in schools over the past two decades (Scrimgeour 2014a) there has been little change in concept or process of engagement with the character system in textbooks and other resources. Digital platforms and online resources that provide learners broader access to a more learner-relevant and pedagogically useful conceptualisation of the Chinese writing system, in order to show how the system works and how to engage productively with it, may hold the answer.
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Copyright 2024 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature